Form CUREC/1A
University of Oxford
CENTRAL UNIVERSITY RESEARCH ETHICS COMMITTEE (CUREC)
CUREC/1A Checklist for the Social Sciences and Humanities
The University of Oxford places a high value on the knowledge, expertise, and integrity of its members and
their ability to conduct research to high standards of scholarship and ethics. The research ethics clearance
procedures have been established to ensure that the University is meeting its obligations as a responsible
institution. They start from the presumption that all members of the University will take their responsibilities
and obligations seriously and will ensure that their research on human subjects is conducted according to
the established principles and good practice in their fields and in accordance, where appropriate, with legal
requirements. Since the requirements of research ethics review will vary from field to field and from project to
project, the University accepts that different guidelines and procedures will be appropriate. Please check the
CUREC website to ensure that you have the correct form for your project.
This form does not cover research governance, satisfactory methodology, compliance with the requirements
of publishers when administering their tests or questionnaires, or the health and safety of employees and
students. As principal investigator, it is your responsibility to ensure that requirements in these areas are
met. Please carry out a risk assessment of the project, in consultation with all researchers involved, using the
checklist and CUREC’s other documentation.
The use of an asterisk in this form indicates a phrase defined in the glossary. The glossary and further
information on the University’s research ethics procedures are available from the CUREC website:
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/curec
This form is designed largely for research that falls within the Divisions of Social Sciences and Humanities
and which does not involve a high level of risk to the subjects. Elite interviews, field work and oral history are
included in the CUREC process. Please take a moment to read through it and if you have any questions or
doubts as to whether it is the appropriate form, please review Section A or consult the CUREC website.
Note on anonymised data and audit: you do not need to obtain ethical approval for your study if:

you are using previously collected anonymised data about people which neither you nor anyone else
involved in your study can trace back to the individuals who provided them (e.g. census data,
administrative data, secondary analysis). Please refer to the definition of *personal data in the glossary
and FAQ A4 for further guidance; or

you are conducting research on behalf of or at the request of a service provider that matches the
definition of *audit in the glossary.
If your research is audit or uses prior-anonymised data, please check this box:
You do not need to seek ethical approval from CUREC, and you do not need to complete any more of this
form. However, please check with your department’s requirements, as some departments require you to
lodge this form with them.
Office use only: IDREC Ref. No. __________________
Date of confirmation that checklist accepted on behalf of IDREC:
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Form CUREC/1A
Yes
SECTION A
No
1) Are you using research methodologies commonly used in biomedical or
behavioural laboratory sciences?
2) Is there a significant risk that the research will induce anxiety, stress or other
harmful psychological states in participants that might persist beyond the duration of
any test or interview in which they are participating?
3) Will the research involve human participants recruited by means of their status as
present or past NHS patients or their relatives or carers?
4) Does the research involve *human participants aged 16 and over who do not have
*capacity to consent for themselves? See the Mental Capacity Act 2005
5) Is the study to be funded by the US National Institutes of Health or another US
federal funding agency?
If you answered ‘yes’, please stop work on this checklist and



for questions 1 and 2, complete CUREC/1 instead (available from www.admin.ox.ac.uk/curec);
for questions 3 and 4, submit your proposal to the appropriate NHS ethics committee (see
www.nres.nhs.uk and http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/researchsupport/ctrg/ for further information);
for question 5, or if you answered 'yes' to questions 1, 2 or 4 and your research will take place
outside the EU and is a biomedical study, submit your proposal to OXTREC, which uses separate
documentation. Applications to OXTREC using this form will not be accepted. If your research is
not a biomedical study and does not have US funding, but will take place outside the EU, you may use
this form to submit your application for approval to the Social Sciences and Humanities IDREC.
If you have answered ‘no’ to all questions in Section A, please complete Sections B-E. This form and any
supporting materials should be typewritten.
SECTION B
*Principal investigator/
supervisor/student researcher
(title and name):
Name of supervisor (STUDENT
RESEARCH PROJECTS ONLY):
Degree programme, e.g. DPhil,
MPhil, MSc (STUDENT RESEARCH
PROJECTS ONLY):
Department or institute:
Address for correspondence (if
different):
Email and phone contact:
Title of research project:
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Title and brief lay description of *research (about 150 words), plus description (about 200 words) of
the nature of participants (including the criteria for inclusion/exclusion & method of recruitment, how
professional guidelines are being applied (if applicable) and use to which the results/data will be put.
Please describe how you will obtain informed consent, citing and attaching, where applicable,
documentation produced in support of your application such as generic recruitment and
advertisement material, participant information sheet(s), consent form(s) and defriefing document(s).
List actual or probable location(s)
where project will be conducted, if
known:
If your research involves overseas YES / NO / N/A
travel or fieldwork, have you
completed and returned a travel
risk assessment form? (Bear in
mind that this may be necessary to
ensure that the travel or fieldwork
is covered by the University’s
travel insurance – see
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/finance/
insurance/travel/.)
Anticipated duration of project:
____ months
Anticipated start date:
Anticipated end date:
/
/
/
/
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Name and status (e.g. 3rd year
undergraduate; post-doctoral
research assistant) of others
taking part in the project:
Please indicate what training on
research ethics the researchers
involved with this study have
received, e.g. the title of the online
or in-person course, and date
completed (online training
available at
www.admin.ox.ac.uk/researchsupp
ort/integrity/human/):
SECTION C
Methods to be used in the study (tick as many as apply: this information will help the committee understand
the nature of your research and may be used for audit).
Please tick
Interview
Questionnaire
Analysis of existing records
Participant performs verbal/paper and pencil/computer based task
Measurement/recording of motor behaviour
Audio recording of participant
Video recording or photography of participant
Physiological recording from participant
Participant observation
Covert observation
Systematic observation
Observation of specific organisational practices
Other (please specify)
SECTION D
Have you read one or more of the following professional guidelines and do you undertake to use the
principles listed there as a guide for your own work? Please note that this is not intended to be an exhaustive
list. Links to the guidelines listed below are included on the CUREC website.
Please tick
British Society of Criminology: Code of Ethics for Researchers in the Field of
Criminology [http://britsoccrim.org/new/?q=node/22
British Educational Research Association Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research
[www.bera.ac.uk/guidelines]
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Academy of Management’s Code of Ethics
[www.aomonline.org/aom.asp?ID=&page_ID=242]
Association of American Geographers Statement on Professional Ethics
[www.aag.org/cs/resolutions/ethics]
Oral History Society of the UK Ethical Guidelines http://www.ohs.org.uk/ethics.php
American Political Science Association (APSA) Guide to Professional Ethics in Political
Science (Section H) [www.apsanet.org/content_9350.cfm]
Political Studies Association Guide to Good Professional Conduct [www.psa.ac.uk/psa]
British Psychological Society Code of Ethics and Conduct [www.bps.org.uk/what-wedo/ethics-standards/ethics-standards]
Ethics Guidelines of the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and
Commonwealth [www.theasa.org/ethics/guidelines.shtml]
Social Research Association: Ethical Guidelines [http://thesra.org.uk/sra_resources/research-ethics/ethics-guidelines/]
Statement of Principles of Ethical Research Practice from the Socio-Legal Studies
Association [www.slsa.ac.uk/content/view/247/270/]
Statement of Ethical Practice for the British Sociological Association
[www.britsoc.co.uk/about/equality/statement-of-ethical-practice.aspx]
Other professional guidelines (please specify):
SECTION E
Please put a tick in the yes/no column as appropriate to indicate your response.
1) Will you obtain informed consent according to good practice in your discipline
before participation?
Yes
No
2) Will you ensure that *personal data collected directly from participants or via a
*third party is held and processed in accordance with the provisions of the Data
Protection Act?
Yes
No
3) Does the research involve as participants *people whose ability to give free and
informed consent is in question?
Yes
No
4) As a consequence of taking part in the research, will participants be at serious
risk of rendering themselves liable to criminal prosecution (e.g. by providing
information on drug abuse or child abuse)?
Yes
No
5) Does the research involve the *deception of participants, as part of the
investigation/experiment?
Yes
No
Note: participants aged under 16 are generally considered to require consent of a
parent or guardian (only answer ‘no’ to this question if you can cite one of the
protocols listed under ‘children’). For participants aged 16-17, consult FAQ C13
If any of your answers above are in a shaded box, please indicate whether those aspects of your project are
fully covered by the following.
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6) Research protocol(s) which has/ve received IDREC/CUREC approval?
Yes
No
Yes
No
If yes, please give protocol number(s):
7) Professional guidelines that you will be following, as noted under Section D?
If any of your answers in Section E are in a shaded box and are not covered by a protocol or by professional
guidelines, please complete CUREC/2, available to download from the CUREC website. Then submit both
this form (you need not complete section F) and the CUREC/2 to the Social Sciences and Humanities
IDREC.
If all your answers in Section E are in the unshaded boxes or your answers in shaded boxes are covered by
a protocol or professional guidelines, complete Section F and submit this form and any accompanying
documents to the Social Sciences and Humanities IDREC or to the relevant officer/committee at
departmental level (see notes and address below).
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FINAL CHECK
Please check each of the following before submitting the checklist. If the appropriate supporting
documentation is not included with your application, you will then be asked to provide this
separately. This may well delay the ethical review process, and thus the start of your research.
Have you completed Sections A-E?
Have you defined all technical terms and abbreviations used?
If you have produced any documentation in support of your application (which might include questionnaires,
participant information, consent forms/form or note of procedure for recording oral consent, advertisements
and surveys), have you attached a copy of these?
Are all pages (including appendices and attachments) numbered?
SECTION F
You can submit this checklist by email and/or as a signed hard copy; if it is being sent by email only,
the checklist, and any email from the head of department or nominee separately endorsing its submission,
must be sent from a University of Oxford email address (i.e. as a minimum, the checklist and supporting
documents must be submitted by the head of department or nominee indicating his/her approval from a
University of Oxford email account).
Complete this section only if you do not need to submit form CUREC/2.
I understand my responsibilities as principal researcher/supervisor/student researcher as outlined in the
CUREC glossary and guidance on the CUREC website.
I declare that the answers above accurately describe my research as presently designed and that I will
submit a new checklist should the design of my research change in a way which would alter any of the above
responses so as to require completion of CUREC/2 (involving full scrutiny by an IDREC). I will inform the
relevant IDREC if I cease to be the principal researcher on this project and supply the name and contact
details of my successor if appropriate.
Signed by principal researcher/supervisor/student researcher:…………………… ………………
Date:…………………
Print name (block capitals)……………………………………………………………………………
Signed by supervisor:……………………………………………………………(for student projects)
Date:…………………
Print name (block capitals)……………………………………………………………………………
I understand the questions and answers that have been entered above describing the research, and I will
ensure that my practice in this research complies with these answers, subject to any modifications made by
the principal researcher properly authorised by the CUREC system.
Signed by associate/other researcher: ……………………………………………………………….
Print name (block capitals)……………………………………………………………………………
Date ………………
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I have read the research project application named above. On the basis of the information available to me, I:
(i)
consider the principal researcher/supervisor/student researcher to be aware of her/his ethical
responsibilities in regard to this research;
(ii)
consider that any ethical issues raised have been satisfactorily resolved or are covered by relevant
professional guidelines and/or CUREC approved protocols, and that it is appropriate for the research to
proceed without further formal ethical scrutiny at this stage (noting the principal researcher’s obligation to
report should the design of the research change in a way which would alter any of the above responses so
as to require completion of a CUREC/2 full application);
(iii)
am satisfied that the proposed project has been/will be subject to appropriate *peer review and is
likely to contribute something useful to existing knowledge and/or to the education and training of the
researcher(s) and that it is in the *public interest.
(iv)
[FOR DEPARTMENTS/FACULTIES WITH A DEPARTMENTAL RESEARCH ETHICS COMMITTEE
(DREC) OR EQUIVALENT BODY - PLEASE DELETE IF NOT APPLICABLE] confirm that this checklist (and
associated research outline) has been reviewed by the Department’s Research Ethics Committee
(DREC)/equivalent body, and attach the associated report from that body.
Signed:………………………………………..
(Head of department or nominee e.g Chair of DREC, Director of Graduate Studies for postgraduate
student projects)
Print name (block capitals)……………………………………………………………………………
Date:……………………
If your research involves participants recruited by means of their status as current or former NHS
staff, or the research will, in whole or in part, be carried out on NHS premises, use NHS facilities or
assess NHS facilities or services, please see FAQ B3 (www.admin.ox.ac.uk/curec/faqs/).
Please check with your department about its procedures for the approval of CUREC forms. If your
department indicates that the checklist should be submitted directly to the IDREC, please send it, together
with any supporting documentation, to the following address(es), keeping a copy for yourself:
Secretary of the Medical Sciences IDREC Email: ethics@medsci.ox.ac.uk
Research Services
University of Oxford
Wellington Square
Oxford, OX1 2JD
Secretary of the Social Sciences and Humanities IDREC Email: ethics@socsci.ox.ac.uk
Research Services
University of Oxford
Wellington Square
Oxford, OX1 2JD
IDRECs and/or CUREC will review a sample of completed checklists and may ask for further details of any
project.
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